The traditional method for examining unknown objects and materials, that is to say samples and sample bodies, may consist in the sample body being exposed to an effect, for example a field, a force or an electromagnetic pulse. The field or force change generated as a result is measured and serves for recognition of the properties inherent to the system. Thus, for instance, paramagnetic or diamagnetic substances are exposed to a magnetic field and the change in the magnetic field (clearly represented by the field lines thereof) then provides information about the respective type of magnetic properties of the substances. The use of force effects often serves to cause a body to vibrate, such that the vibrating body reveals its mass. If the sample changes its constitution in terms of a specific parameter, for example in terms of location and time, then it is necessary possibly to perform a plurality of experiments for the precise examination of the sample, in order to do justice to the dynamics and change of said sample. From an abstract point of view, an input signal, for example in the form of a magnetic pulse or a simple magnetic field, acts on the sample. An output signal is measured, which output signal usually has a changed value following an interaction between sample and input signal. The more complex the sample and the more dynamic its change in terms of location and time, the more extensively it is necessary to perform the examinations in the form of measurements.
Generally known examples for determining structures include spectroscopic methods. Molecular vibrations are observed in infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The absorption of molecules in the visible and ultraviolet spectral range is used in UV spectroscopy. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR spectroscopy) measures the interactions of magnetic fields with the atomic nuclei. Living samples can be measured and visualized with the aid of functional magnetic resonance tomography (fMRT). Activity-dependent changes in the cortical blood flow and oxygenation of the local tissue are trapped in this case. The paramagnetic or diamagnetic properties of the deoxygenated or oxygenated blood already mentioned are measured. This is an example of a highly complex and dynamic system since the amount of blood and the ratio of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood change continually and irregularly, the individual blood molecules additionally being in continuous motion. If the sample is a brain, then an obvious information processing system is also present as well. Since the overall state of the sample, that is to say the complex and—in the case mentioned—also information processing system, changes continually, the state can only be observed retrospectively. In the case of serial measurements, in particular, the time interval between the individual measurements will be chosen to be as small as possible in order to obtain the largest possible number of values and output signals. The physical methods restrict the number here. It should additionally be mentioned that the abovementioned methods are used for examining both living and inanimate samples.
The evaluations of these measurements currently always assume an average value and thus, particularly in the case of measured values that deviate greatly from one another, corrupt the end result. For example, in the case of using an MRT (magnetic resonance tomography) as measuring instrument, the evaluations do not permit both assignment to a specific location in the sample body and at the same time determination of characteristic reaction parameters such as, for instance, structure properties of the information processing system at the specific location.